


Sorry (But I Love You)

by cohevans



Category: Glee
Genre: Angst, Angst and Romance, Best friends who are kinda into each other, Cohevans, Episode: s05e02 Tina in the Sky with Diamonds, F/M, Prom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-20
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:33:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27635492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cohevans/pseuds/cohevans
Summary: What if the reason Tina dumped Sam was because she heard what he'd said?
Relationships: Tina Cohen-Chang/Sam Evans
Kudos: 7





	Sorry (But I Love You)

_"Hey. Are you looking forward to prom?" Blaine asks, smiling. "I fell asleep last night while Tina was texting me about her prom dress.. it's very nice that you're going with her."_

_"Yeah. I guess.." Sam answers. "I just.. I don't know. It's my senior prom and I kind of wish I was going with somebody I really care about."_

* * *

Somebody I really care about.

Tina took a deep breath. She'd been about to go see her best friends in the choir room with more questions about the prom.. until she heard them speaking. And now Tina was wishing that she had left when she should've. Before such words came out of his big mouth.

Of course nobody wanted to go with her. She was Tina Cohen-Chang. A Lima loser that is known for crying and sitting in the background. Speaking up makes her dramatic and asking for a solo makes her ungrateful. But _fine._

She didn't need him.

God, she should've chosen Ryder. But of course, on behalf of Blaine, keeping Blamtina together by picking Sam seemed perfect. Although that was the problem. None of it had been remotely close to involving Blaine. Never had been. Not even her supposed crush on him.

Being a "hag" seemed better than being know as the girl who had a hopeless crush on a guy that didn't even take her seriously anymore! This wasn't how she remembered their friendship being. Or general relationship. But things change. Tina supposed she should've known that her Sam wouldn't be there anymore. The Sam that wrote messages to her in Na'vi, went with her to the cinema to watch a Star Wars movie marathon, played video games with and that actually appreciated her.

But truth was, this was always him. Just a different, more openly spoken and less conscious Sam. The same guy she crushed hard on.

Yet it didn't feel that way at all.

Tina had gotten the implication that he didn't care about her. He'd told her that once, jokingly, and Tina never really thought much of it. Sam was always pushing her buttons wherever he could.

So she began ignoring him with the lead up the prom. If he felt that way, then she wouldn't force herself into him knowing that he disliked her. Sam was so caught up with Nurse Penny that he probably wouldn't even notice!

And besides, _Blam!_ probably found her more annoying than she let in on.

Maybe it would be best if she left them alone.

The next day, Tina approached her locker only to find a note stuck to it. Her eyes widened. "I'm sorry." She read, her eyes ignoring the blatantly obvious grammatical errors. If it were different circumstances, maybe she'd have accepted his apologies.. but this time it'd really hurt. Right before prom.

She turned away from her locker, only to bump into something hard. Strong arms stopped her from falling over and long blonde hair fell in front of her. Tina didn't even realize she was holding onto _it._ Her heart pounding; eyes watering. Why did it have to hurt so much knowing how little he cared?

"I see you, uh, found my apology."

Tina kept her eyes drawn to the ground. "Sam, you know, I thought that this prom would be the one time that we could actually spend together. You and me.. b-but y-you- you never wanted to go with me."

"That's not true, Tina I-" He said defensively, in a quiet voice.

 _Liar,_ Tina thought. Her head was telling her not to say anything, but her heart raced as his fingertips brushed her exposed skin. Sam wasn't going to pretend. Tina didn't _want_ him to. If he didn't want to go, he should've told her straight up and she would've asked Ryder.

But he didn't a word; _screw you, Sam Evans._

"I heard you loud and clear! You want to go with that woman pushing thirty, then you go! I know you don't want to be embarrassed by forcing yourself to go with the totally not hot girl everybody hates!"

Sam was taken aback. When she looked him in the eyes, he could see the tears pouring down her face silently. He was getting with the school nurse. That sounded.. slightly strange. Truth. And he had a beautiful girl, his age, standing right in front of him with feelings that he clearly hadn't known she'd had.

But then he realized he was beginning to tear up too.

Her tears were softly trailing down her face, eyes scanning his. Like she was looking for something. Anything. Those mysterious brown eyes had never failed to amaze him.

There was always more to her than meets the eye. Like how she kicked ass in video games, or read the comics he liked. How Tina never once rejected a compliment from him — even the remotely suggestive ones. They used to flirt a lot more. When they'd spent a lot of time together, without noticeable feelings, since they were both caught up with Mike and Mercedes.

She had so much more to her personality, more than he felt he did. But Tina never once put him down. When he was going through a hard time wanting to look his best for the calender, she sent him three messages detailing everything she loved about him and his personality — aside from his perfect abs.

And why did he put her down, even then?

All Tina ever did was look out for him. Even if it meant she paid the price for his mistakes: Switched her math paper with his one, writing her name on his one and his one on hers so she got his D- and he got her B; got him to retake his SAT test and studied with him to help him achieve a better score; enthusiastic about everything he did. More than him.

Tina frowned, her anger settled for a feeling of sadness instead. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "What I mean is.. you deserve to be happy. And if going with _her_ will make you happy.. don't bear the burden of going with me."

For once, he didn't have any jokes to make. No impressions to do. Anything that he could hide his feelings behind. He really wanted to be honest. And for her to admit what he already knew. "Tina, I'm sorry-"

"The thing is.. you're not. Just admit it, Sam. You _never_ cared about me. I'm nothing to you, the same way I am to everybody else!"

He could hear her rapid breaths in-between words; the crack of her voice when she said _nothing_ ; that look in her eyes he knew far too well. He'd hurt her. Again. Sam hated that it always came to this. Something happened and somebody got hurt.

Tina hated that she got hurt every time something happened. It somehow involved her, or she got the blame. _Bullcrap._

Sam attempted to put his hand on her shoulder, but she smacked it away. "Don't touch me."

"Tina. We're friends?"

"I'm _not_ your friend, Sam. I get it now. We were never friends."

She pulled away from him, turning around with a second thought and quickly disappearing into the crowding hallway. Sam couldn't ever see her once she blended in. It was like looking at a faceless painting. The foreground gave the background depth. 

But there was no depth to this art. It really was over.

He wasn't going with Tina anymore.

Part of him was delighted, but his content was overcome by guilt. The old Sam wouldn't have dared to do that. He wasn't selfish. Everything was about respecting his faith, enjoying the time spent with loved ones and not taking anything for granted.

Maybe he'd taken his friendship with Tina for granted. Or whatever they called it.

_"We were never friends."_

Neglected by everybody she cared about, Tina put up boundaries. Even more than she used to. She put on this diva persona to get noticed more. All these things she began doing that the old Tina would've never had the guts to do.

Even Artie had lost the friend he had in her. Along with him, and the others. She doesn't look at anybody the same way. Her trust was gone.

Tina rushed into the girls' bathroom, locking herself in a stall and leaning her back against the door as she let her tears fall. Prom is where she would bounce back. There would be nobody to interrupt the moment she hopefully won prom queen. Not Sam, not Artie.. no-one.

She didn't need them.

Nobody won anything but doing things half-heartedly.

Even then, she still didn't hate him though. Sam was a great guy. But the negative parts of him was that he could be ego-driven and unaware of how his actions affected others. He'd hurt her multiple times; just his words were like stabs to the heart.

But tolerating that is what you do for somebody you love. It's just.. what you have to do.


End file.
